Freestyle dining on Freedom?

[not2soon2cruiseagain]

Hi all! I'm new to the boards and to crusing. We're taking our 2nd cruise (1st on RCCL) on Freedom of the Seas in September. I just read that Royal Caribbean is rolling out freestyle dining on all of its ships this year. Anyone know how that will impact us if we want to do the tradional seating style? Has anyone tried it yet? Thanks!

[BillOh]

Any time dining is done on the deck 5 dining room, that leaves the other two dining rooms for regular dining. We have stuck with traditional dining.

[dacsmom]

I have the same question. I like eating with the same people. I have made great friends with a large table of people I didn't know. I am sure I would feel differently if I didn't like my tablemates, but I have been lucky.

[Lionesss]

How do you determine gratuities?

If you rotate where you eat, how do you tip?

[Dat Cruisin Couple]

How do you determine gratuities?

If you rotate where you eat, how do you tip?

 

There is a difference between "Freestyle" dining and "MyTime" dining. Freestyle is available on NCL and involves having manay different restaurants and options for dinner. MyTime dining is available on RCCL and is only in the main dining room - there is no rotating dining avaiable(not really anyway - you can always skip the MDR altogether go to the Windjammer, Sorrento's, Cafe Promenade or pay extra for Portifino's, Chop's or Johnny Rockets) it really just gives you the option of when you want to dine in the main dining room and whether you want to eat just with the people you're travelling with or others - we did MyTime Dining on our last cruise and didn't see anyone dining with strangers although we did have cinversations with people at other tables.

 

best thing is not to think of Freestyle and MyTime as interchangable terms.

 

Tipping goes pretty standard since the waitstaff splits tips.

 

We loved it, BTW. Didn't have to rush to get to the dining room, had the same waitstaff each night. Service was outstanding. The only difference I noticed were we ate at our pace(DW and I) - didn't have to wait for someone to finish his sixth serving of eschargot before going on the main course.:rolleyes:

[printingchick]

We're trying it out on the Freedom next week as well. We sometimes eat breakfast in the dining room and are randomly seated with different folks. We've met some really great people this way.

 

We've had mixed fortune with seating companions at traditional seating meals. Last year, we had a GREAT group. Previous years, only so-so or mostly no-shows. It's hit and miss. Still, we're trying the new style for time reasons, more than seating reasons. The early seating is really too early. It often means rushing back from port to get to dinner. The late seating often means you're finishing dinner at 10PM, then rushing to a show with a full stomach. By then, we'd find ourselves TOO relaxed and we'd end up missing a lot of late night activities we'd intended to attend.

 

We think eating around 7:00 or 7:30 would be IDEAL! So we're going to give it a try.

 

As always, you can certainly personally tip for exceptionalservice, but your prepaid utilities are divided equally.